Neil Young – ‘Roxy: Tonight’s the Night Live’ Review

Tonight’s the Night has a funny place in Neil Young’s discography. Despite being recorded directly after Harvest, the album was not released until 1975. Although Time Fades Away and On the Beach followed Harvest, Tonight’s the Night is the true successor to Young’s highest charting album.

Tonight’s the Night was Neil Young’s artistic response to the deaths of roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten. The art, music, and lyrics are collectively dark; creating a morose aesthetic that alienated fans seeking the country vibe of Harvest. With a steady flow of Tequilla fueling the sessions, a band dubbed The Santa Monica Flyers helped Young craft a cathartic batch of songs.

The music had barely been put to tape when Neil Young began a short residency at the now legendary Roxy. After the club was converted from strip club to music venue, Young was asked to be the inaugural act. With a cheap stage-set consisting of palm-trees, hubcaps, and boots, The Santa Monica Flyers unveiled brand new material inside the intimate nightclub.

The performances have finally seen an official release with Roxy-Tonight’s the Night-Live. Available as a single CD or double LP, fans can finally own a legitimate copy of the classic performance.

This archival release finds a 45-year old classic record stripped down to the gritty immediacy of live performance. Young’s emotional wounds are fresh. His raw delivery is pained and clearly a vital step in the grieving process.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Young opens the set with a joke. Playing upon the venue’s former life as a strip club, Young makes a sly suggestion that “the first topless girl” getting on stage will be rewarded with one of the tacky boots scattered as props. Later on he reminds the crowd that a young stripper named “Candy Bar” used to dance on the Roxy stage and revisits the gag throughout the set.

The set is opened with “Tonight’s the Night.” Beginning with subdued guitar noodling, there is a laid-back feel that is lacking in the studio version. Young even forgets a line. After singing “People let me tell you,” the phrase “it sent a chill up and down my spine” is omitted. It’s clear this was a brand new song.

The title track is strongly autobiographical, even calling out Bruce Berry by name. Drawn out, dark, and anguished, “Tonight’s the Night” is musically brilliant but lacks the feel-good aesthetic conductive to a light-hearted opening of a new rock venue.

Young and company are acutely aware of this disparity. The second song, “Roll Out the Barrel,” offers 30 seconds of good-time rock and roll. A short ditty played on piano and accented with harmonica, the light-hearted burst of positive energy draws applause from the audience.

The happy vibe proves to be short-lived as the band launched into “Mellow My Mind.” When Young howls, “Baby mellow my mind/Make me feel like a school boy in good time,” it’s a very real declaration. The loss of close friends cut deep. Music is a way of healing and a literal way to mellow a burdened mind.

Most of the studio album is represented. Obviously the Whitten sung “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” is not performed. “Borrowed Tune” would surely fall flat in a live setting and is wisely excluded. “Lookout Joe” is also missing. Otherwise, the remainder of Tonight’s the Night is included.

Classic Neil Young hits are nowhere to be found in this short set. For the final song, Young tells the patient audience that the band will now play an old song. Instead, they play “Walk On,” a track that would not be released until the following year. At the song’s conclusion, the house-lights go on. The audience shuffles out, having endured a setlist of entirely unknown songs.